Daily prayer in Christmas 2025-2026: 38, Saturday 31 January 2026

‘Leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him’ (Mark 4: 36) … boats at the jetty in Bako National Park, north of Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

These are the last days in the 40-day season of Christmas, which concludes with Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February 2026), which many parishes may mark tomorrow, which is also the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany (Epiphany IV).

The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today recalls John Bosco (1815-1888), priest and founder of the Salesian teaching order. Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘Let us go across to the other side’ (Mark 4: 35) … waiting gondolas near Saint Mark’s Square in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 4: 35-41 (NRSVA):

35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ 41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’

The calming of the storm depicted in a window in the Chapel in Westminster College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

Chapter 4 in Saint Mark’s Gospel is the ‘parables chapter,’ recalling parables that make this chapter the central teaching section of this Gospel. Christ is in a boat beside the sea teaching a very large crowd who are listening on the shore (see Mark 4: 1-2). Now in today’s reading (Mark 4: 35-41), Christ and the disciples are leaving the crowd and crossing to the other side of the lake or sea. But a storm blows up, and the disciples show how weak they truly are, with all their doubts and fears.

As we work our ways through the storms of life, we have many questions to ask about the purpose or meaning of life. Often, we can feel guilty about putting those questions to God. Yet, should we not be able to put our deepest questions and greatest fears before God?

In today’s Gospel reading, the frightened disciples challenge Christ and ask him whether he cares that they are perishing (verse 38). But he offers them words of peace before doing anything to remedy the plight in which they have been caught, and goes on to ask them his own challenging questions: ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ (verses 40)? They, in turn, end up asking their own challenging question about who Christ is for them.

I enjoy being on boats, whether it is punts in Cambridge or Oxford, island hopping in Greece, or cruising on rivers from the Shannon to the Seine or Sarawak. But I also recognise the fears of the disciples in this reading, having found myself in unexpected storms on lakes on the Shannon and on the waters of the Mediterranean. In retrospect, they were minor storms each time, but those memories give me some insights into the plight of refugees crossing choppy waters every day in the English Channel and in the Mediterranean.

The plight of the disciples in this reading seems like the working out of a constant, recurring, vivid dream of the type many of us experience at different times: the feelings of drowning, floating and falling suddenly, being in a crowd and yet alone, calling out and not being heard, or not being recognised for who we are.

Christ is asleep in the boat when a great gale rises, the waves beat the side of the boat, and it is soon swamped by the waters.

Christ seems oblivious to the calamity that is unfolding around him and to the fear of the disciples. They have to wake him, and by then they fear they are perishing.

Christ wakes, rebukes the wind, calm descends on the sea, and Christ challenges those on the boat: ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ (verse 40).

Instead of being calmed, they are now filled with awe. Do they recognise Christ for who he truly is? They ask one another: ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’ (verse 31).

Even before the Resurrection, Christ tells the disciples not to be afraid, which becomes a constant theme after the Resurrection.

Do those in the boat begin to ask truly who Christ is because he has calmed the storm, or because he has calmed their fears?

Through the storms of life, through the nightmares, fears and memories, despite the failures of the Church, past and present, we must not let those experiences ruin our trusting relationship with God.

Despite all the storms of life, throughout all our fears and nightmares, we can trust in God as Father and trust in the soothing words of Christ, ‘Peace! Be still! Be not afraid.’


Three minutes at Mags Bridge in Cambridge (Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 31 January 2026):

The theme this week (25-31 January 2026) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘Connections That Last’ (pp 22-23). This theme was introduced last Sunday with Reflections from Paula de Mello Alves, a Brazilian lawyer and theologian, Executive Secretary of the Southern Diocese, and former co-leader of the Anglican Communion Youth Network (ACYN).

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 31 January 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord, bless the Emerging Leaders Academy and all who take part. May these young leaders grow in faith, wisdom, and courage as they explore new ways to serve and live out their calling.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
whose Son revealed in signs and miracles
the wonder of your saving presence:
renew your people with your heavenly grace,
and in all our weakness
sustain us by your mighty power;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Almighty Father,
whose Son our Saviour Jesus Christ is the light of the world:
may your people,
illumined by your word and sacraments,
shine with the radiance of his glory,
that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed
to the ends of the earth;
for he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

God of all mercy,
your Son proclaimed good news to the poor,
release to the captives,
and freedom to the oppressed:
anoint us with your Holy Spirit
and set all your people free
to praise you in Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Epiphany IV:

God our creator,
who in the beginning
commanded the light to shine out of darkness:
we pray that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ
may dispel the darkness of ignorance and unbelief,
shine into the hearts of all your people,
and reveal the knowledge of your glory
in the face of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Collect on the eve of the Presentation:

Almighty and ever–living God,
clothed in majesty,
whose beloved Son was this day presented in the Temple,
in substance of our flesh:
grant that we may be presented to you
with pure and clean hearts,
by your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow


By the harbour in Rethymnon (Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Daily prayer in Christmas 2025-2026: 16, Friday 9 January 2026

‘The boat was out on the lake, and he was alone on the land’ (Mark 6: 47) … on the water at Bako National Park, north of Kuching in Sarawak (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The 40-day season of Christmas continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February).

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased’ (Mark 6: 51) … gondolas at Saint Mark’s Square in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 6: 45-52 (NRSVA):

45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

47 When evening came, the boat was out on the lake, and he was alone on the land. 48 When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the lake. He intended to pass them by. 49 But when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; 50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ 51 Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

‘When evening came, the boat was out on the lake’ (Mark 6: 47) … a small lake at the Sarawak Cultural Village, near Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

Saint Mark’s account of the feeding of the 5,000 (6: 34-44), which was the Gospel reading at the Eucharist yesterday, is followed today by his account of Jesus calming the storm on the lake (Mark 6: 45-52).

Each of Saint Mark’s feeding miracles is joined with a water miracle, evoking the Exodus stories, including God parting the waters (Exodus 14: 19-31) and God feeding the people in the wilderness (Exodus 16: 31-21), and the disciples’ misunderstanding is a serious condition, akin to Pharaoh’s misunderstanding that is linked to his oppression of the enslaved people (see Exodus 7 to 11).

In today’s Gospel reading, the disciples are on a boat on their way to Bethsaida when they are caught in a storm on the lake. Jesus walks on the water, calms their fears and shows his divine power – in this case over the stormy, choppy seas (verses 45-52).

In the Gospel reading, the disciples feel abandoned as they face their worst fears and face the abyss in the sea, the fear of drowning in the storms of life, of falling into the pit.

But Christ tells them, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ And they respond with faith, bow down and worship him, and proclaim him the Son of God.

Christ tells the disciples to get into the boat and to go ahead of to the other side of the lake while he sends the crowd home.

Then, instead of using another boat to follow the disciples, or walking around the shoreline, he goes up a mountain by himself, and he spends the evening and much of the night in prayer.

The Sea of Galilee is shallow, but storms can rise suddenly. Early in the morning, before dawn, the boat is far from the shore when it is battered by waves and the wind. The disciples have lost control and are frightened. They see Jesus walking on the sea, and are terrified even more, thinking they are seeing a ghost. They cry out in their fears, but Jesus seeks to calm their fears: ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid’ (verse 50).

I continue to enjoy my journeys on boats and my walks by rivers, harbours, lakes and canals, enjoying the sight of other people enjoying their time in boats and on the water. In the past two years, these journeys and walks have been in Buckingham, Cambridge, Dublin, Durham, Great Linford, Iraklion, Kuching, London, Oxford, Panormos, Paris, Rethymnon, Singapore, Stony Stratford, York …

It is almost 60 years since I first went rowing as a teenager on Lough Ramor in Virginia. But as an adult, I had long thought that I would be left regretting that I had arrived in Cambridge as a student in my 50s, too late in life to learn, or to re-learn how to row. I had come to enjoy rowing as a sport and an activity, but in a very passive way.

Then one evening, as I was standing casually at the slipway at Askeaton, Co Limerick, where I was living as the priest-in-charge, I was suddenly and unexpectedly invited to get into a boat and started to row.

I was fearless. It was a pleasure I had often hoped for and wished for. And for almost an hour, we rowed upstream, under the bridge at Askeaton, and as far as the castle, and then downstream past the factory, although not as far as the estuary.

When I suggested that I might be too old to learn, I was told with brusque h humour that once I stopped learning I had stopped living.

Since then, I have watched children and teenagers hop in and out of boats, freely and fearlessly, confident of their own ability and the ability of those who are training them.

Freely and fearlessly. But as I was messing about on boats in Crete during a holiday some years ago, hopping on and off boats in the sun as I visited smaller islands and lagoons off the coast, I thought of how this was a pleasure that I was paying for, while many refugees were full of fear as they boarded boats in the dark trying to arrive on Greek islands, or cross the Channel, having paid exorbitantly for the risk and the dangers.

Freely. Fearlessly. What are your worst fears?

Many of us have continuing fears about the economy, and some of us have fears that there may be yet another pandemic after Covid-19, or that the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, throughout the Middle East or created by the Trump regime in Latin America may spill over into our own ‘safe areas’. Many of the well-founded fears about a second Trump presidency that threatens stability in the US and across the world have been realised in the space of one year.

As we grow up and mature, we tend to have fewer fears of the outside world, and as adults we begin to cope with the fears we once had as children, by turning threats into opportunities.

The fears I had as a child – of snakes, of the wind, of storms at sea, of lightning – are no longer the stuff of the recurring nightmares they were when I was a child. I have learned to be cautious, to be sensible and to keep my distance, and to be in awe of God’s creation.

Most of us have recurring dreams that are vivid and that have themes that keep repeating themselves. Yet in sleep the brain can act as a filter or filing cabinet, helping us to process, deal with and put aside what we have found difficult to understand in our waking hours, or to try to find ways of dealing with our lack of confidence, feelings of inadequacy, with the ways we confuse gaining attention with receiving love, or with our needs to be accepted, affirmed and loved.

The disciples’ plight in today’s Gospel reading seems to be the working out of a constant, recurring, vivid dream of the type many of us experience at some stage: the feelings of drowning, floating and falling suddenly, being in a crowd and yet alone, calling out and not being heard, or not being recognised for who we are.

As seasoned boat-handlers, the Disciples know not to try walking on water. They know the risk of sudden storms and swells, and they know the safety of a good boat, as long as it has a good crew.

But since the early history of the Church, the boat has symbolised the Church. The bark (barque or barchetta) symbolises the Church tossed on the sea of disbelief, worldliness, and persecution but finally reaching safe harbour. Part of the imagery comes from the ark saving Noah’s family during the Flood (I Peter 3: 20-21). Christ protects the Disciples and their boat on the stormy Sea of Galilee (see also Matthew 14: 22-33; John 6 16-21). The mast forms the shape of the Cross.

It is an image that appears in Apostolic Constitutions and the writings of Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria. We still use the word nave for the main part of the church, which, architecturally often looks like an up-turned boat.

None of us should risk walking on water, or risk play stupidly in boats on the river or in choppy waters or storms. But if we are to dream dreams for the Church and for the Kingdom of God, we need to be aware that it comes at the risk of feeling we are being sold out by those we see as brothers and sisters, and risk being seen as dreamers rather than people of action by others: for our dreams may be their nightmares.

If we are going to dream dreams for the Church, for the Kingdom of God, we may need to step out of our safety zones, our comfort zones, and know that this comes with a risk warning.

And if we are going to dream dreams for the Church, for the Kingdom of God, we need to keep our eyes focussed on Christ, and to know that the Church is there to bring us on that journey.

Let us dream dreams, take risks for the Kingdom of God, step outside the box, but let us keep our eyes on Christ and remember that the boat, the Church, is essential for our journey, and let us continue to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

‘He came towards them early in the morning, walking on the lake’ (Mark 6: 48) … flood waters near the River Ouse at Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 9 January 2026):

The theme this week (4-10 January 2026) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Hidden Histories’ (pp 16-17). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by Matthew Anns, Senior Communications and Engagement Manager at USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 9 January 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord, we thank you for the progress of the Codrington Project - for land restored, archival discoveries and for tenants finding a home. Through this unique work, may your Spirit lead all people into deeper healing, unity, and hope.

The Collect:

O God,
who by the leading of a star
manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth:
mercifully grant that we,
who know you now by faith,
may at last behold your glory face to face;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Lord God,
the bright splendour whom the nations seek:
may we who with the wise men have been drawn by your light
discern the glory of your presence in your Son,
the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Creator of the heavens,
who led the Magi by a star
to worship the Christ-child:
guide and sustain us,
that we may find our journey’s end
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased’ (Mark 6: 51) … the River Cam and the Backs below Magdalene Bridge in Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org


On a boat in Bako National Park, Sarawak (Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 53, Tuesday 1 July 2025

‘And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him’ (Matthew 8: 35) … waiting gondolas near Saint Mark’s Square in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and the week began with the Second Sunday after Trinity (Trinity II, 29 June 2025) and the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, so that these days are sometimes known as Petertide.

Today also brings us into the second half of the year. The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Henry Venn (1797), John Venn (1813), and Henry Venn the younger (1873), priests and evangelical divines. Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

The calming of the storm depicted in a window in the Chapel in Westminster College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Matthew 8: 23-27 (NRSVA):

23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ 26 And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. 27 They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’

On the water at Bako National Park, north of Kuching in Sarawak (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Reflection:

This morning’s reading at the Eucharist (Matthew 8: 23-27) comes after yesterday’s account (Matthew 8: 18-22) of the crowds following Jesus being so great that he tried to get away to the other side of the lake. Now in this morning’s reading, Christ and the disciples are leaving the crowd and crossing to the other side of the lake or sea. But a storm blows up, and the disciples show how weak they truly are, with all their doubts and fears.

As we work our ways through the storms of life, we have many questions to ask about the purpose or meaning of life. Often, we can feel guilty about putting those questions to God. Yet, should we not be able to put our deepest questions and greatest fears before God?

In this Gospel reading, the frightened disciples challenge Christ and ask him whether he cares that they are perishing (verse 25). But he offers them words of peace before doing anything to remedy the plight in which they have been caught, and goes on to ask them his own challenging questions: ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ (verses 26). They, in turn, end up asking their own challenging question about who Christ is for them.

I enjoy being on boats, whether it is on punts in Cambridge or Oxford, island hopping in Greece, or cruising on rivers from the Shannon to the Seine or Sarawak. But I also recognise the fears of the disciples in this reading, having found myself in unexpected storms on lakes on the Shannon and on the waters of the Mediterranean. In retrospect, they were minor storms each time, but those memories give me some insights into the plight of refugees crossing choppy waters every day in the English Channel and in the Mediterranean.

The plight of the disciples in this reading seems like the working out of a constant, recurring, vivid dream of the type many of us experience at different stages: the feelings of drowning, floating and falling suddenly, being in a crowd and yet alone, calling out and not being heard, or not being recognised for who we are.

Christ is asleep in the boat when a great gale rises, the waves beat the side of the boat, and it is soon swamped by the waters. He seems oblivious to the calamity that is unfolding around him and to the fear of the disciples. They have to wake him, and by then they fear they are perishing.

Christ wakes, rebukes the wind, calm descends on the sea, but still Christ challenges those on the boat: ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’

Instead of being calmed, they are now filled with awe. Do they recognise Christ for who he truly is? They ask one another: ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’ (verse 27). Even before the Resurrection, Christ tells the disciples not to be afraid, which becomes a constant theme after the Resurrection.

Do those in the boat begin to ask truly who Christ is because he has calmed the storm, or because he has calmed their fears?

Through the storms of life, through the nightmares, fears and memories, despite the failures of the Church, past and present, we must not let those experiences to ruin our trusting relationship with God. Despite all the storms of life, throughout all our fears and nightmares, we can trust in God as Father and trust in the calm presence and words of Christ among us.

‘Then … there was a dead calm’ (Matthew 8: 26) … boats in the calm waters at Mesongi on the island of Corfu (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 1 July 2025):

I am sorry to miss the USPG Annual Conference which takes place over three days this week at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire. The theme of the conference this year is ‘We Believe, We Belong?’ and centres around the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed (AD 325). Updates of the conference as it happens are available by following USPG on social media @USPGglobal.’

‘We Believe, We Belong?’ is the theme this week (29 June to 5 July) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). This theme was introduced on Sunday with reflections by Rachael Anderson, former Senior Communications and Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary today (Tuesday 1 July 2025) invites us to pray:

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the first day of the conference. We pray particularly that you will use the speakers to inspire and encourage all to grow in your likeness.

The Collect:

Lord, you have taught us
that all our doings without love are nothing worth:
send your Holy Spirit
and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.
Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Loving Father,
we thank you for feeding us at the supper of your Son:
sustain us with your Spirit,
that we may serve you here on earth
until our joy is complete in heaven,
and we share in the eternal banquet
with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Faithful Creator,
whose mercy never fails:
deepen our faithfulness to you
and to your living Word,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

The Hayes Conference Centre at Swanwick in Derbyshire … the venue for the USPG conference this week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

13 million blog readers: but what does 13 million mean for the disabled, for tourism or for deforestation?

Greece is more than 13 million hectares in size, with a total land area of 13.2 ha, and has a coastline of 13.6 million metres (13,676 km) … the coastline below the Fortezza in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

This blog reached yet another new peak late last night (17 June 2025), totalling up 13 million hits since I first began blogging about 15 years ago, back in 2010.

Yet again, I find this is both a humbling statistic and a sobering figure that leaves me not with a sense of achievement but a feeling of gratitude to all who read and support this blog and my writing.

After I began blogging, it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. It was over a year before this figure rose to 1 million by September 2013. It climbed steadily to 2 million, June 2015; 3 million, October 2016; 4 million, November 2019; 5 million, March 2021; 6 million, July 2022; 7 million, 13 August 2023; 8 million, April 2024; and 9 million, October 2024.

But the rise in the number of readers has been phenomenal over the past few months, reaching 9.5 million on 4 January 2025, 10 million over a week later (12 January 2025), 10.5 million two days after that (14 January 2025), 11 million a month later (12 February 2025), 11.5 million a month after that (10 March 2025), 12 million early last month (3 May 2025), 12.5 million a month later (6 June 2025) and 13 million shortly before midnight last night (17 June 2025).

Indeed, January 2025 was the first month this blog ever had 1 million hits in one single month – or even within a fortnight – with 1 million hits by mid-January, in the early hours of 14 January, and a total of 1,420,383 by the end of that month (31 January 2025).

In recent months, the daily figures have been overwhelming on occasions. Seven of the 12 days of busiest traffic on this blog were in January 2025 alone, and the other five of those 12 busiest days were in this month (June 2025):

• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)
• 261,422 (13 January 2025)
• 100,291 (10 January 2025)
• 64,077 (14 January 2025)
• 55,614 (17 June 2025)

• 55,344 (25 January 2025)
• 52,831 (27 January 2025)
• 48,819 (15 June 1015)
• 46,920 (7 June 2025)
• 46,420 (8 June 2025)
• 46,042 (14 June 2025)

This blog has already had about 3.6 million hits this year, almost 28 per cent of all hits ever, by 6 pm this evening (18 June 2025) it had almost 49,000 hits.

Joseph Heller wrote in Catch-22, ‘Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.’ But I have noticed that seven of these days were in the week before and after Trump’s inauguration, the others were in the days around his outrageous military prade in Washington DC on 14 June and that the overwhelming number of hits are not from Ireland, the UK and Greece, as I might expect, but from the US.

The bots at work in Washington must be trawling far and wide for anyone critical of the Trump regime, but I doubt my criticisms of Trump, Vance and Musk are going to make it easy to get a visa to visit the US over the next four years, should I ever want to under the present regime. I’d prefer to boos my ego and cnvince myself that my popularity is growing and that I have become a ‘must-read’ writer for so many people every day. But, sadly, I don’t think that’s so. And if a minor critic of the Trump regime outside the US such as me is being intimidated, imagine how many critics inside the US feel they are being intimidated and bullied into success.

About 13 million tourists visit Venice each year … gondolas waiting for tourists near Saint Mark’s Square (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

With this latest landmark figure of 13 million hits by today, over 1.4 million hits in January alone, and almost three quarters of a million hits during June so far, I once again find myself asking questions such as:

• What do 13 million people look like?
• Where do we find 13 million people?
• What does £13 million, €13 million or $13 million mean, or what would it buy?

13 million or more people in the UK are disabled, from dyspraxia to impaired vision to Tourette’s.

It is estimated that there are about 13 million undocumented migrants in the US.

Burundi has a population of over 13 million people, and cities with a population of about 13 million people include Rio de Janeiro, Tianjin and Kinshasa.

There are have been protests throughout southern Europe about the over-tourism. About 13 million tourists visit Venice each year, 13 million tourists visited Berlin and the island of Mallorca last year (2024), Cyprus is expecting 13 million tourists this year, and already 13 million tourists have visited Hanoi and Thailand this year. Twice that number of tourists, 26 million, are said to have visited Barcelona, last year.

Greece is more than 13 million hectares in size, with a total land area of 13.2 ha, and has a coastline of 13.6 million metres (13,676 km), the ninth longest coastine in the world.

Greenland is melting at a rate of 13 million litres per second. That’s the equivalent volume of water in five Olympic pools discharged each second into the ocean.

Each year about 13 million hectares of the world’s forests are lost due to deforestation.

The number of olive trees in Crete vary in estimates from 13 million up to 30 million. The export value of California olives and olive oil is $13 million.
Lichfield District Council spends £13 million a year on local services.

Jeff Bezsos and Lauren Sanchez plan to spend $13 million on their ‘scaled-back’ wedding in Venice, with ‘a nice small gathering of 200 people’.


Each year about 13 million hectares of the world’s forests are lost due to deforestation (Patrick Comerford)

Saifullah Abdullah Paracha from Pakistan was held without charge by the US in Guantanamo Bay for over 18 years before being released in 2022. He had interesting perspectives on $13 million when he wrote for Reprieve back in January 2020:

‘I was surprised to hear President Donald Trump complaining about the $13 million that the US spends per detainee each year, to detain us without charge at Guantánamo Bay. It is difficult to think what they spend it on. Certainly, it is not spent on us. They do not need $13 million to close my cell door on me or to send me out into a shingle compound to walk in circles for an hour. I have diabetes, arthritis, and get chest pains that are clear warnings of my mortality, but they certainly do not spend $13 million on my healthcare. I have had two heart attacks and I fear it will not be third time lucky.

‘They don’t spend the money on the guards either. I have tried to befriend many soldiers over the years, as I feel sorry for them. They are little better off than we are. They are told we are the worst of the worst terrorists in the world, and that they are being sent here to do the job for which they enlisted – to make America safe. When they get here, they discover a bunch of nobodies – an old Pakistani businessman like me, a Karachi taxi driver like Ahmed, or Abdul Latif who was meant to have been on a plane home at the end of the Obama Administration. Trump has sworn he will not transfer anyone. We are “no value” forever-detainees, marooned here on a presidential whim.

‘Is it any surprise that soldiers here reportedly suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at a rate twice as high as those on the battlefield? At least the latter are doing the job they signed up for. Here, the guards find that they are not fighting, or even serving, the country they thought was America. Instead, they are riddled with doubt as to the meaning of their lives. I don’t get any therapy here for the abuses and the losses I have suffered, but I do find myself doling out advice to soldiers in their teens or early twenties who are psychologically lost. The S.O.G. is the Sergeant of the Guard in our camp. They call me O.G., which I am told stands for “Old Granddad”. One guard even ended up calling me “Father.”

‘My lawyer asked me what I would rather spend my $13 million on. I tell him, forget the $13 million, and just give me a boarding pass for the plane back to my family.

‘If I am not allowed that, first I ask why the American people would want to waste their tax dollars. So far they have spent $6 billion on this prison that has made nobody more safe and severely damaged the USA’s reputation as a country founded on the rule of law. My best estimate is that this could have saved the lives of 100,000 Americans – if it had been spent on health care, rather than torture.

‘Yet when pressed and told I must spend it all, I do not find that hard. It is what I used to do when I was a wealthy businessman, and had money myself. I do feel a duty to thank those who have helped me over many years, so I would donate $1 million to Reprieve to continue their good work. The rest I would invest in Pakistan, to help people to love life rather than cast it away on “jihad”. I have calculated that for each $1.5 million, I could create a hospital within a sustainable community – 200 families with jobs on the premises, a school, a fruit orchard and a hive of honey bees. It may sound impossible for that kind of sum, but it is Pakistan, where money goes much further. Indeed, I have written up an entire business plan which I call the “Milk and Honey Project.”

‘Imagine – or help America’s leaders to imagine – how much goodwill this would buy. Remember, also, that this is just the money being wasted on keeping one old man locked up. There are more than twenty “no value” detainees like me held in this dreadful prison, at an annual cost to the US taxpayer of over $250 million. I must agree with the President: it is a “crazy” waste of money. A man who so often boasts about getting a good deal should recognise that it is about time he stopped throwing the money away.’

Saifullah Abdullah Paracha is reortedly back Pakistan; Donald Trump is disgracefully back in the White House.

The world has a population of 8.2 billion people, and 13 million people represent only 0.16% of all those people, a modest number I suppose.

One of the most warming figures personally in the midst of all these statistics is the one that shows my morning prayer diary continues to reach an average of 73-75 people each day in the past month. It is over three years now since I retired from active parish ministry. But I think many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches averaged or totalled 510 to to 530 people a week.

Today, I am very grateful to all 13 million readers and viewers of this blog to date, and for the small and faithful core group among you who join me in prayer, reading and reflection each morning.

Lichfield District Council spends £13 million a year on local services (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Daily prayer in Easter 2025: 14, Saturday 3 May 2025

‘His disciples went down to the lake, got into a boat, and started across the lake’ (John 6: 16-17) … boats at the mouth of the Sarawak River at Bako National Park north of Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

Our Easter celebrations continue in the Church Calendar, and tomorrow is the Third Sunday of Easter (Easter III). Easter is a 50-day season that continues until the Day of Pentecost.

The pop-up café Στέκι Mας (Our Place), which takes place in Stony Stratford on the first Saturday of each month, is at the Swinfen Harris Church Hall beside the Greek Orthdox Church on London Road from 10:30 am today. This is also World Press Freedom Day, an important day to mark and cherish as media freedoms are trampled underfoot by the Trump regime in the US.

But before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the lake’ (John 6: 19) … a lone rower at the Sidney Sussex Boat Club on the Backs in Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 6: 16-21 (NRSVA):

16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, 17 got into a boat, and started across the lake to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The lake became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. 20 But he said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid.’ 21 Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land towards which they were going.

‘His disciples went down to the lake, got into a boat, and started across the lake’ (John 6: 16-17) … a boat on the Ouse at Old Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Today’s Reflections:

This morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist follows immediately after the account of the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6: 1-15), which we read about yesterday.

These are two of the seven signs in Saint John’s Gospel:

• Turning water into wine in Cana (John 2: 1-11)
• Healing with a word (John 4: 46-51)
• Healing a crippled man at Bethesda (John 5: 1-9)
• The feeding of 5,000 (John 6: 1-14)
• Walking on water (John 6: 16-21)
• The healing of the man born blind (John 9: 1-7)
• The Raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11: 1-46).

The Dominican author and theologian, Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, points out that that in the Bible, seven is the number of perfection. We know of the six days of creation and how God rested on the seventh. In Saint John’s Gospel, we have seven signs and seven ‘I AM’ sayings disclosing for us who Christ truly is.

The feeding with the bread and fish is also a prelude to, looks forward to, another meal by the shores of Lake Tiberias. We read tomorrow about that breakfast with the disciples when Jesus feeds them with bread and fish (John 21: 1-19).

Immediately after he hears and responds to the cry of the poor, Christ hears the cry of creation. He calms the waves and the waters and brings his light into the darkest fears of the disciples.

‘It is I; do not be afraid.’

We can be transfixed by fear or paralysed into inaction.’ But poverty and the assault on the earth challenge us to hear the groaning of creation, and we need to be reminded that there can be no salvation for humanity that does not include creation.

Let the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup take us to the heart of creation.

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

An icon of the Church as a boat, including Christ, the Apostles and the Church Fathers (Icon: Deacon Matthew Garrett, www.holy-icons.com)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 3 May 2025):

‘Become Like Children’ provides the theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). This theme was introduced last Sunday with a Programme Update by Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 3 May 2025) invites us to pray:

Heavenly Father, we thank you for FeAST and the way in which it unites Anglican scholars in creative and critical theological engagement. May it foster mutual learning and strengthen our commitment to justice, peace, and compassion within the Anglican Communion and beyond.

The Collect:

Almighty Father,
you have given your only Son to die for our sins
and to rise again for our justification:
grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness
that we may always serve you
in pureness of living and truth;
through the merits of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Lord God our Father,
through our Saviour Jesus Christ
you have assured your children of eternal life
and in baptism have made us one with him:
deliver us from the death of sin
and raise us to new life in your love, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Additional Collect:

Risen Christ,
for whom no door is locked, no entrance barred:
open the doors of our hearts,
that we may seek the good of others
and walk the joyful road of sacrifice and peace,
to the praise of God the Father.

Collect on the Eve of Easter III:

Almighty Father,
who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples
with the sight of the risen Lord:
give us such knowledge of his presence with us,
that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life
and serve you continually in righteousness and truth;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow


Rowing on the River Ouse in York (Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Daily prayer in Christmas 2024-2025: 39, Saturday 1 February 2025

‘Leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him’ (Mark 4: 36) … boats at the jetty in Bako National Park, north of Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

These are the last days in the 40-day season of Christmas, which concludes tomorrow with Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (Sunday 2 February 2025). We have reached the end of a week and the beginning of a new month. The Church calendar today celebrates Saint Brigid of Kildare (ca 525), one of the three patrons of Ireland.

Later this morning I am hoping to be at Το Στεκι Μασ (Our Place), the Greek café that takes place every first Saturday of the month at the Swinfen Harris Church Hall beside the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford. In the afternoon, I hope to find somewhere appropriate to watch the two matches in the Six Nations competition, between Scotland and Italy, and then, more importantly, between Ireland and England. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘Let us go across to the other side’ (Mark 4: 35) … waiting gondolas near Saint Mark’s Square in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 4: 35-41 (NRSVA):

35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ 41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’

Punts on the Backs at Magdalene Bridge in Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Reflection:

Chapter 4 in Saint Mark’s Gospel is the ‘parables chapter,’ recalling parables that make this chapter the central teaching section of this Gospel. Christ is in a boat beside the sea teaching a very large crowd who are listening on the shore (see Mark 4: 1-2). Now in this morning’s reading (Mark 4: 35-41), Christ and the disciples are leaving the crowd and crossing to the other side of the lake or sea. But a storm blows up, and the disciples show how weak they truly are, with all their doubts and fears.

As we work our ways through the storms of life, we have many questions to ask about the purpose or meaning of life. Often, we can feel guilty about putting those questions to God. Yet, should we not be able to put our deepest questions and greatest fears before God?

In this Gospel reading, the frightened disciples challenge Christ and ask him whether he cares that they are perishing (verse 38). But he offers them words of peace before doing anything to remedy the plight in which they have been caught, and goes on to ask them his own challenging questions: ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ (verses 40)? They, in turn, end up asking their own challenging question about who Christ is for them.

I enjoy being on boats, whether it is on punts in Cambridge or Oxford, island hopping in Greece, or cruising on rivers from the Shannon to the Seine or Sarawak. But I also recognise the fears of this disciples in this reading, having found myself in unexpected storms on lakes on the Shannon and on the waters of the Mediterranean. In retrospect, they were minor storms each time, but those memories give me some insights into the plight of refugees crossing choppy waters every day in the English Channel and in the Mediterranean.

The plight of the disciples in this reading seems like the working out of a constant, recurring, vivid dream of the type many of us experience at different stages: the feelings of drowning, floating and falling suddenly, being in a crowd and yet alone, calling out and not being heard, or not being recognised for who we are.

Christ is asleep in the boat when a great gale rises, the waves beat the side of the boat, and it is soon swamped by the waters.

Christ seems oblivious to the calamity that is unfolding around him and to the fear of the disciples. They have to wake him, and by then they fear they are perishing.

Christ wakes, rebukes the wind, calm descends on the sea, and Christ challenges those on the boat: ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ (verse 40).

Instead of being calmed, they are now filled with awe. Do they recognise Christ for who he truly is? They ask one another: ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’ (verse 31).

Even before the Resurrection, Christ tells the disciples not to be afraid, which becomes a constant theme after the Resurrection.

Do those in the boat begin to ask truly who Christ is because he has calmed the storm, or because he has calmed their fears?

Through the storms of life, through the nightmares, fears and memories, despite the failures of the Church, past and present, we must not let those experiences to ruin our trusting relationship with God.

Despite all the storms of life, throughout all our fears and nightmares, we can trust in God as Father and trust in the soothing words of Christ, ‘Peace! Be still! Be not afraid.’

The calming of the storm depicted in a window in the Chapel in Westminster College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 1 February 2025):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘A Reflection on 2 Timothy’. This theme was introduced last Sunday with a Programme Update by the Revd Canon Dr Nicky Chater, Chair of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Friendly Churches and Chaplain for these communities in the Diocese of Durham.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 1 February 2025) invites us to pray:

Lord, in these times, when we fear we are losing hope or feel our efforts are futile, let us see in our hearts and minds the image of your resurrection, and let that be our source of courage and strength. With that, and in your company, help us to face challenges and struggles against all that is born of injustice.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
whose Son revealed in signs and miracles
the wonder of your saving presence:
renew your people with your heavenly grace,
and in all our weakness
sustain us by your mighty power;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Almighty Father,
whose Son our Saviour Jesus Christ is the light of the world:
may your people,
illumined by your word and sacraments,
shine with the radiance of his glory,
that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed
to the ends of the earth;
for he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

God of all mercy,
your Son proclaimed good news to the poor,
release to the captives,
and freedom to the oppressed:
anoint us with your Holy Spirit
and set all your people free
to praise you in Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of The Presentation:

Almighty and ever-living God,
clothed in majesty,
whose beloved Son was this day presented in the Temple,
in substance of our flesh:
grant that we may be presented to you
with pure and clean hearts,
by your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

‘Leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him’ (Mark 4: 36) … tourists on the Cherwell at Christ Church Meadow in Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)


Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Daily prayer in Christmas 2024-2025: 30, Thursday 23 January 2025

‘Whenever the unclean spirits saw him … he sternly ordered them not to make him known’ (Mark 3: 11-12) … a sculpture in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The 40-day season of Christmas continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February). This week began with the Second Sunday of Epiphany (Epiphany II), with readings that focussed on the Wedding at Cana, the third great Epiphany theme, alongside the Visit of the Magi and the Baptism of Christ.

Today is the Sixth Day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and the Anglican Cycle of Prayer today prays for the Diocese of Lichfield. Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘Whenever the unclean spirits saw him … he sternly ordered them not to make him known’ (Mark 3: 11-12) … a sculpture in La Lonja, the former Silk Market in Valencia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 3: 7-12 (NRSVA):

7 Jesus departed with his disciples to the lake, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; 8 hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. 9 He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him; 10 for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. 11 Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, ‘You are the Son of God!’ 12 But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.

‘Whenever the unclean spirits saw him … he sternly ordered them not to make him known’ (Mark 3: 11-12) … a sculpture in La Lonja, the former Silk Market in Valencia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Mark 3: 7-12) tells us that as a consequence of the healing stories we have been reading throughout this week, people come to Jesus in great numbers. These people are not only from his own region of Galilee, but from the neighbouring and surrounding areas, including Judea, Jerusalem and Idumea to the south of Galilee, from regions beyond the Jordan to the east, and from the Phoenician and Greek-speaking areas to the north, around Tyre and Sidon.

One of those regions, Idumea, also known as Edom, has significant historical and biblical importance. It was to the south of ancient Judah and is often associated with the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob.

The name Idumea (Ἰδουμαία) is the Greek form of Edom, which means ‘red’, probably referring to the red sandstone terrain of the region or to the reddish appearance of Esau at birth (see Genesis 25: 25). Idumea is frequently mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, where it is identified as the land settled by Esau and his descendants (see Genesis 36: 8).

The Edomites or people of Idumea were often in conflict with the Israelites, reflecting the tumultuous relationship between Esau and Jacob. The Edomites refused passage to the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt (see Numbers 20: 14-21). This act of hostility set the stage for future animosities. Obadiah prophesied against Edom, condemning them for their violence against their brother Jacob and predicting their downfall (Obadiah 1: 10-14).

During the reign of King David, Edom was subjugated and became a vassal state (II Samuel 8: 13-14). The Psalmist says: ‘Upon Edom I will toss my sandal’ (Psalm 60: 8). However, the Edomites regained independence during the reign of King Jehoram of Judah (II Kings 8: 20-22). The prophets frequently spoke against Edom, highlighting its pride and eventual judgment: Isaiah 34: 5-6 speaks of the Lord’s sword descending in judgment upon Edom; Jeremiah 49: 17-18 predicts its desolation; and Ezekiel 25: 12-14 prophesies against Edom for taking vengeance on the house of Judah.

By New Testament times, Idumea had become a Roman province. Herod the Great, the king of Judea at the time of Jesus’ birth, was of Idumean descent. This connection is significant, as Herod’s rule and his attempt to kill the infant Jesus (Matthew 2: 16) are seen as a continuation of the enmity between the descendants of Esau and Jacob.

Today’s Gospel passage mentions that people from Idumea came to hear Jesus, indicating the region’s continued existence and its people’s interest in the teachings of Christ (Mark 3: 8).

The persistent conflict between Israel and Edom are reminders of the consequences for generations of discord within families and the enduring nature of divine justice. The account of Idumea underscores the biblical theme of God’s faithfulness to his promises and his ultimate plan for redemption through Christ, who reconciles all enmity.

‘Upon Edom I will toss my sandal’ (Psalm 60: 8) … sandals in a shoe shop in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 23 January 2025):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Whom Shall I Send?’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by Rachael Anderson, Senior Communications and Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 23 January 2025) invites us to pray:

Gracious God, we lift to you the leaders and organisers of the ‘Whom Shall I Send?’ training. Thank you for their vision, dedication, and hard work in bringing together young leaders.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
in Christ you make all things new:
transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace,
and in the renewal of our lives
make known your heavenly glory;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God of glory,
you nourish us with your Word
who is the bread of life:
fill us with your Holy Spirit
that through us the light of your glory
may shine in all the world.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Eternal Lord,
our beginning and our end:
bring us with the whole creation
to your glory, hidden through past ages
and made known
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

‘He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd’ (Mark 3: 9) … boats ready for hire at Bako National Park north of Kuching in Sarawak (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Daily prayer in Christmas 2024-2025: 16, Thursday 9 January 2025

‘The boat was out on the lake, and he was alone on the land’ (Mark 6: 47) … on the water at Bako National Park, north of Kuching in Sarawak (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

The 40-day season of Christmas continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February).

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased’ (Mark 6: 51) … gondolas near Saint Mark’s Square in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 6: 45-52 (NRSVA):

45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

47 When evening came, the boat was out on the lake, and he was alone on the land. 48 When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the lake. He intended to pass them by. 49 But when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; 50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ 51 Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

‘When evening came, the boat was out on the lake’ (Mark 6: 47) … a small lake at the Sarawak Cultural Village, near Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Reflection:

Saint Mark’s account of the feeding of the 5,000 (6: 34-44), which was the Gospel reading at the Eucharist yesterday, is followed today by his account of Jesus calming the storm on the lake (Mark 6: 45-52).

Each of Saint Mark’s feeding miracles is joined with a water miracle, evoking the Exodus stories, including God parting the waters (Exodus 14: 19-31) and God feeding the people in the wilderness (Exodus 16: 31-21), and the disciples’ misunderstanding is a serious condition, akin to Pharaoh’s misunderstanding that is linked to his oppression of the enslaved people (see Exodus 7 to 11).

In today’s Gospel reading, the disciples are on a boat on their way to Bethsaida when they are caught in a storm on the lake. Jesus walks on the water, calms their fears and shows his divine power – in this case over the stormy, choppy seas (verses 45-52).

In the Gospel reading, the disciples feel abandoned as they face their worst fears and face the abyss in the sea, the fear of drowning in the storms of life, of falling into the pit.

But Christ tells them, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ And they respond with faith, bow down and worship him, and proclaim him the Son of God.

Christ tells the disciples to get into the boat and to go ahead of to the other side of the lake while he sends the crowd home.

Then, instead of using another boat to follow the disciples, or walking around the shoreline, he goes up a mountain by himself, and he spends the evening and much of the night in prayer.

The Sea of Galilee is shallow, but storms can rise suddenly. Early in the morning, before dawn, the boat is far from the shore when it is battered by waves and the wind. The disciples have lost control and are frightened. They see Jesus walking on the sea, and are terrified even more, thinking they are seeing a ghost. They cry out in their fears, but Jesus seeks to calm their fears: ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid’ (verse 50).

During the past year, I have enjoyed a number of journeys on boats, and walked by countless rivers, harbours, lakes and canals, enjoying the sight of other people enjoying their time in boats and on the water – in Cambridge, Dublin, Great Linford, Iraklion, Kuching, London, Oxford, Paris, Rethymnon, Singapore, Stony Stratford …

It is almost 60 years since I first went rowing as a teenager on Lough Ramor in Virginia. But as an adult, I had long thought that I would be left regretting that I had arrived in Cambridge as a student in my 50s, too late in life to learn, or to re-learn how to row. I had come to enjoy rowing as a sport and an activity, but in a very passive way.

Then one evening, as I was standing casually at the slipway at Askeaton, Co Limerick, where I was living as the priest-in-charge, I was suddenly and unexpectedly invited to get into a boat and started to row.

I was fearless. It was a pleasure I had often hoped for and wished for. And for almost an hour, we rowed upstream, under the bridge at Askeaton, and as far as the castle, and then downstream past the factory, although not as far as the estuary.

When I suggested that I might be too old to learn, I was told brusquely and with humour, that once I stopped learning I had stopped living.

Since then, I have watched children and teenagers hop in and out of boats, freely and fearlessly, confident of their own ability and the ability of those who are training them.

Freely and fearlessly. But as I was messing about on boats in Crete during a holiday some years ago, hopping on and off boats in the sun as I visited smaller islands and lagoons off the coast, I thought of how this was a pleasure that I was paying for, while many refugees were full of fear as they boarded boats in the dark trying to arrive on Greek islands, or cross the Channel, having paid exorbitantly for the risk and the dangers.

Freely. Fearlessly. What are your worst fears?

Many of us have continuing fears about the economy, and some of us have fears that there may be yet another about the Covid-19 pandemic, or that the conflicts raging between Russia and Ukraine and throughout the Middle East may spill over into our own ‘safe areas’. Others of us also have well-founded fears about the ways a second Trump presidency threatens stability in the US and across the world.

As we grow up and mature, we tend to have fewer fears of the outside world, and as adults we begin to cope with the fears we once had as children, by turning threats into opportunities.

The fears I had as a child – of snakes, of the wind, of storms at sea, of lightning – are no longer the stuff of the recurring nightmares they were when I was a child. I have learned to be cautious, to be sensible and to keep my distance, and to be in awe of God’s creation.

Most of us have recurring dreams that are vivid and that have themes that keep repeating themselves. Yet in sleep the brain can act as a filter or filing cabinet, helping us to process, deal with and put aside what we have found difficult to understand in our waking hours, or to try to find ways of dealing with our lack of confidence, feelings of inadequacy, with the ways we confuse gaining attention with receiving love, or with our needs to be accepted, affirmed and loved.

The disciples’ plight in today’s Gospel reading seems to be the working out of a constant, recurring, vivid dream of the type many of us experience at some stage: the feelings of drowning, floating and falling suddenly, being in a crowd and yet alone, calling out and not being heard, or not being recognised for who we are.

As seasoned boat-handlers, the Disciples know not to try walking on water. They know the risk of sudden storms and swells, and they know the safety of a good boat, as long as it has a good crew.

But since the early history of the Church, the boat has symbolised the Church. The bark (barque or barchetta) symbolises the Church tossed on the sea of disbelief, worldliness, and persecution but finally reaching safe harbour. Part of the imagery comes from the ark saving Noah’s family during the Flood (I Peter 3: 20-21). Christ protects the Disciples and their boat on the stormy Sea of Galilee (see also Matthew 14: 22-33; John 6 16-21). The mast forms the shape of the Cross.

It is an image that appears in Apostolic Constitutions and the writings of Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria. We still use the word nave for the main part of the church, which, architecturally often looks like an up-turned boat.

None of us should risk walking on water, or risk play stupidly in boats on the river or in choppy waters or storms. But if we are to dream dreams for the Church and for the Kingdom of God, we need to be aware that it comes at the risk of feeling we are being sold out by those we see as brothers and sisters, and risk being seen as dreamers rather than people of action by others: for our dreams may be their nightmares.

If we are going to dream dreams for the Church, for the Kingdom of God, we may need to step out of our safety zones, our comfort zones, and know that this comes with a risk warning.

And if we are going to dream dreams for the Church, for the Kingdom of God, we need to keep our eyes focussed on Christ, and to know that the Church is there to bring us on that journey.

Let us dream dreams, take risks for the Kingdom of God, step outside the box, but let us keep our eyes on Christ and remember that the boat, the Church, is essential for our journey, and let us continue to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

‘He came towards them early in the morning, walking on the lake’ (Mark 6: 48) … flood waters near the River Ouse at Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 9 January 2025):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘The Melanesian Brotherhood Centenary’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by Ella Sibley, Regional Manager for Europe and Oceania, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 9 January 2025) invites us to pray:

God of peace, we pray for the Pacific Islands, asking you to bring unity, stability, and harmony to the region.

The Collect:

O God,
who by the leading of a star
manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth:
mercifully grant that we,
who know you now by faith,
may at last behold your glory face to face;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Lord God,
the bright splendour whom the nations seek:
may we who with the wise men have been drawn by your light
discern the glory of your presence in your Son,
the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Creator of the heavens,
who led the Magi by a star
to worship the Christ-child:
guide and sustain us,
that we may find our journey’s end
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

‘Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased’ (Mark 6: 51) … the River Cam and the Backs below Magdalene Bridge in Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org